This invention relates generally to door hinge alignment tools and methods, and more particularly to a tool and method for aligning sprung vehicle doors.
When the door of a vehicle is opened too far, such as when caught by the wind, the door hinge and door frame can be sprung to the point where the door will not close properly, if at all. For the door to close properly, it is necessary to bend the hinge or door frame or both back to their original, intended shape and relationship. This can be an arduous process, requiring partial disassembly and removal of the door to obtain access to the bent members.
In the drawing, FIG. 2 shows a horizontal sectional view downwardly through the hinge of the left door of a General Motors pick-up truck in which the door has been sprung by being opened too far. When this happens, the panel on which the hinge is mounted is often bent inwardly at the front or left end of the hinge mount and pulled outwardly at the back or right end of the hinge mount. Conventional practice calls for removal of the door and hinge, followed by separately straightening the bent panel and the hinge, if bent, back to their original, intended shape and relationship, as shown in FIG. 3. In General Motors vehicles, this procedure is especially difficult. It necessitates first removing the door to reach bolts in the hinge well on the outer side of the hinge mount. Then, the kick panel or inner wall in front of the door must be removed to reach a bolt extending in the opposite direction from behind the panel on which the hinge is supported. The General Motors flat rate book allows 30 minutes for this procedure, but experience has it proven that it ordinarily takes about an hour.
Another approach to aligning the sprung vehicle doors comprises opening the door, placing a block of wood between the door and door frame, and forcing the door toward a closed position, against the block. The object of this effort is to spring the hinge and door frame back to a position that will allow the door to close. However, this approach typically does not bend the hinge and door frame back to their original position, and so usually fails to accurately align the door with the door frame.
Hinge adjusting tools for use in adjusting conventional cabinetry hinges are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,332,274 to Dunster and 3,965,720 to Goodwin, et al. None of these tools appears to be useful for aligning sprung vehicle door hinges.
Wheel rim straightening tools are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,326,907 to Bond and 1,344,533 to Cole. U.S. Pat. No. 2,772,587 to Woodring, et al proposes a pair of tools which are used together for opening and closing chain links. U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,350 to McManus discloses a sheet material bending and forming tool. None of these patents discloses a tool which is used for straightening sprung vehicle door hinges. Each of these patents discloses a tool having a head mounted on a handle, the head being shaped to provide a channel for receiving or engaging an area of sheet metal, so that, by rotation of the handle, the metal can be bent. However, none of these tools appear to be capable of being used for aligning vehicle doors and, heretofore, no such tool has been known, used or suggested for use in alignment of sprung vehicle door hinges.
Accordingly, a need remains for a simpler, less time-consuming method of aligning vehicle door hinges.